Enemies of Energy: Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI)

Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt from Enemies of Energy, a research report created for the Capital Research Center. The page for the full report is here: Enemies of Energy.

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While not nearly as well-known as older and established anti-energy NGOs such as the Sierra Club and Environmental Defense Fund, the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) has spent the last fifteen years growing into one of the largest and most influential.

RMI was founded in 1982 as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit by a stridently anti-energy gadfly named Amory Lovins. In a 1977 interview, Lovins made this wild but revealing statement: [i] ^[ii]

If you ask me, it’d be little short of disastrous for us to discover a source of clean, cheap, abundant energy because of what we would do with it. We ought to be looking for energy sources that are adequate for our needs, but that won’t give us the excesses of concentrated energy with which we could do mischief to the earth or to each other. [emphasis in original] [iii]

While Lovins’ hostility to energy abundance is hard to exaggerate, for a lot of RMI’s history it was easier to ignore.

As recently as its 2012 IRS filing, RMI reported total revenue of just $10 million, and net assets of almost $7.6 million. At the time, that was a small anti-energy nonprofit. For example, in their respective IRS filings for 2012 the Sierra Club reported almost $90.4 million in revenue, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) raked in $98.7 million, and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) $111.9 million. [iv] [v]

A dozen years later a lot had changed. For 2024, RMI reported total revenue of $164.7 million, just a little bit behind the Sierra Club’s $169 million. RMI has become one of America’s most influential anti-energy NGOs and done so in a remarkably short period of time.[vi]

Because public access to nonprofit IRS reports lags the reporting period by 18-24 months, it is possible that the 2025 data will show that RMI has already overtaken the Sierra Club and other anti-energy NGOs. But there is also evidence of weakness.

USASpending.gov shows RMI receiving $19.5 million in federal grants during the Biden administration, with $11.5 million of that sent from the Department of Energy. In April 2025 the Trump administration Energy Department announced it was cancelling two of these grants, which together totaled $6.8 million. One month later, RMI announced it was laying off 10 percent of its staff, due to what an internal email claimed was “increased uncertainty around revenue sources.” ^[vii] [viii] [ix]

The anti-energy agenda

True to its founder’s original vision, the RMI agenda is to replace all of the world’s reliable energy systems with weather dependent wind and solar. “Pursuing the phase-out of fossil fuels is the only currently viable pathway to reduce energy waste, boost national security, and enhance resiliency, while also creating economic opportunity and delivering affordable energy for all,” claims the RMI website.[x]

Their replacement options do not include clean burning natural gas and emissions-free nuclear power.

“Accelerating the build-out of the new clean energy system is the only viable long-term solution to the double crisis facing Europe in terms of both energy security and the climate emergency,” an RMI report advised in February 2022. “Instead of looking backward to domestic fossil or large-scale nuclear, European officials should prioritize the multiple clean energy technologies that are available to them today to cut both emissions and energy dependencies.” The RMI researcher even criticized the electricity-independent French for planning to add to their admirable fleet of emissions-free nuclear power stations. [xi]

Americans do not suffer from energy dependency, in part because of our world-leading access to and production of natural gas. As shown in the prior section, natural gas burns far cleaner and with less emissions than any of the other hydrocarbon fuels. The use of it in place of coal in electricity generation has been a major reason for declining CO₂ emissions in the United States. ^{[xii] [xiii] [xiv]}

During the Biden administration, RMI became America’s most influential opponent of natural gas.

According to the official calendar of former Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, she had a private meeting in June 2021 with Jules Kortenhorst, then the CEO of RMI. (The former energy secretary’s calendar was obtained in a freedom of information request filed by Americans for Public Trust and publicly revealed in February 2023.) [xv]

Six months later in late-December 2022, RMI co-produced a science journal report that attributed 12.7 percent of American childhood asthma cases (600,000 annually, according to RMI) to the use of natural gas stoves in private residences.[xvi] [xvii]

Cooking with gas is done in at least 35 percent of American homes. Gas ranges are widely considered by both amateur and professional chefs as far superior to electric stoves. The methodology of the anti-gas study was criticized by at least one neutral academic interviewed by the Washington Free Beacon: [xviii] ^[xix]

The study—which spans just nine paragraphs—was based on a hodgepodge of different data and methodologies spanning various years and countries, ranging from 2019 U.S. Census data to conclusions from a 2018 analysis in Australia.

Structuring a study that way is questionable, according to Yale University professor of medicine Dr. Harvey Risch. […]

“This paper does not do any research on possible association between residential natural gas use and risk of childhood asthma,” Risch told the Free Beacon. “It only calculates a percent of childhood asthma that could be attributable to residential natural gas use and risk of childhood asthma.”

That distinction is important, Risch said, particularly when calling for such a dramatic public policy proposal that would change how tens of millions of Americans prepare their food. The study was also ethically dubious, according to Risch, as its authors stated they held no conflicts of interest despite working for climate change activist groups. The Rocky Mountain Institute’s board, for example, is filled with executives at green energy corporations with a financial interest in banning the use of fossil fuels.^[xx]

In January 2023, shortly after the RMI study was released, Consumer Product Safety commissioner Richard Trumka, Jr, referenced it when he proposed banning the sale of new gas stoves. And in mid-December 2022, just two weeks before the RMI report was posted, the Biden administration’s Energy Department announced a plan to phase out gas appliances in federal buildings. [xxi] [xxii]

The China agenda

RMI has long sponsored a China Program that is (as of this writing) still “focused on finding technical and economic solutions to help China decarbonize.” Beginning in 2013, RMI partnered with China’s National Development and Reform Commission to examine how China could “use energy efficiency and renewable energy to meet the growing demand of its population for a clean, low-carbon, efficient, safe, reliable, and cost-effective modern energy system.” [xxiii] [xxiv]

When this collaboration began in 2013, China was responsible for 28.1 percent of world CO₂ emissions. As covered in the previous section, China’s annual CO₂ emissions had jumped to 32 percent of the world total in 2024. This was far and away more than any other nation. And there’s no end in sight, as the Chinese are planning to open more than 100 new coal-fired power plants in 2026. ^{[xxv] [xxvi]}

While this collaboration hasn’t done much to decarbonize China, the greenwashing has provided the authoritarian communist regime with a public relations triumph. For example, China’s dictator received this wet kiss in a January 2021 RMI news release: [xxvii]

On September 22, 2020, President Xi Jinping announced that China will strive to peak emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. This new climate pledge is a critical step forward in the global fight against climate change and reflects China’s determination to provide responsible global leadership. ^[xxviii]

Among other developments since then, China’s decision to open more than 100 new coal plants obviously isn’t anywhere on the path to ceasing CO₂ emissions growth by 2030. In a November 2025 report, energy journalist Robert Bryce put the impact of this propaganda in perspective: [xxix]

But the media’s relentless propaganda campaign about China’s solar, wind, and EV sectors is obscuring the country’s soaring use of hydrocarbons, and coal in particular. By itself, China consumes more coal than the rest of the world combined — and it will keep doing so for decades to come. As I reported in August, China is now building 227 gigawatts of coal-fired capacity. When all those coal plants are brought online, China’s coal-fired generation capacity will total about 1.4 TW, meaning China’s coal fleet will be more than seven times larger than the US coal fleet. Put another way, China’s coal fleet alone will be larger than the entire US electric grid, which has 1.3 TW of generation capacity. ^[xxx]

Bryce also reported that the Chinese have been investing heavily in new natural gas and nuclear powerplants. He wrote that “China’s production of natural gas and nuclear energy has grown 1.4 times faster than solar and wind combined” and “China’s domestic gas sector is now producing nearly three times more energy than all of China’s solar panels.” [emphasis in original] ^[xxxi]

China obviously accomplished these triumphs for low carbon natural gas and zero carbon nuclear electricity production without encouragement from RMI.

PDF hyperlink to full report

Endnotes

[i] “40 Years of Impact.” Rocky Mountain Institute. Accessed January 30, 2026. https://rmi.org/about/history/

[ii] Plowboy. “Amory Lovins: Energy Analyst and Environmentalist.” Mother Earth News. November 1, 1977. Accessed January 30, 2026. https://www.motherearthnews.com/sustainable-living/renewable-energy/amory-lovins-energy-analyst-zmaz77ndzgoe/

[iii] Plowboy. “Amory Lovins: Energy Analyst and Environmentalist.” Mother Earth News. November 1, 1977. Accessed January 30, 2026. https://www.motherearthnews.com/sustainable-living/renewable-energy/amory-lovins-energy-analyst-zmaz77ndzgoe/

[iv] Rocky Mountain Institute. (EIN: 74-2244146). ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. IRS Form 990 reports (2001-most recently available). Accessed January 30, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/742244146

[v] Sierra Club. (EIN: 94-1153307). ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. IRS Form 990 reports. (2001-most recently available). Accessed January 30, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/941153307;

Natural Resources Defense Council Inc. (EIN: 13-2654926). IRS Form 990 reports. (2001-most recently available). Accessed January 30, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/132654926;

Environmental Defense Fund Incorporated. (EIN: 11-6107128). IRS Form 990 reports. (2001-most recently available). Accessed January 30, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/116107128

[vi] Rocky Mountain Institute. (EIN: 74-2244146). ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. IRS Form 990 reports (2001-most recently available). Accessed January 30, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/742244146;

Sierra Club. (EIN: 94-1153307). ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. IRS Form 990 reports. (2001-most recently available). Accessed January 30, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/941153307

[vii] Recipient Profile: Rocky Mountain Institute. Grants for 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. USASpending.gov. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://www.usaspending.gov/search?hash=c382653a4611e383e1bf298a09ee8b6c

[viii] Catenacci, Thomas. “Trump Cancels Biden Grants to China-Tied Think Tank Behind War on Gas Stoves.” Washington Free Beacon. April 2, 2025. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://freebeacon.com/energy/trump-admin-cancels-green-grants-funding-left-wing-climate-think-tank-tied-to-china/

[ix] Streb, Audrey. “Green Energy Think Tank Reportedly Cuts Staff After DOE Grant Cancellations.” The Daily Caller News Foundation. May 15, 2025. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://dailycaller.com/2025/05/15/green-energy-think-tank-cuts-staff-doe-grant-cancellations/

[x] “Our Approach to Fossil Fuels.” Rocky Mountain Institute. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://rmi.org/rmis-approach-to-fossil-fuels/

[xi] Tatarenko, Oleksiy. “Reality Check: Europe Must Go Renewable to Escape Energy and Climate Crisis.” Rocky Mountain Institute. February 22, 2022. Accessed January 30, 2026. https://rmi.org/europe-must-go-renewable-to-escape-energy-and-climate-crisis/

[xii] Kirkland, Joel (ClimateWire). “Natural Gas Could Serve as ‘Bridge’ Fuel to Low-Carbon Future.” Scientific American. June 25, 2010. Accessed January 14, 2026. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/natural-gas-could-serve-as-bridge-fuel-to-low-carbon-future/

[xiii] “Environment: Carbon Dioxide Emissions Coefficients.” Energy Information Agency | U.S. Department of Energy. September 18, 2024. Accessed January 14, 2026. https://www.eia.gov/environment/emissions/co2_vol_mass.php

[xiv] “Electric power sector CO2 emissions drop as generation mix shifts from coal to natural gas.” Energy Information Agency | U.S. Department of Energy. June 9, 2021. Accessed January 14, 2026. https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=48296#

[xv] “REVEALED: Biden’s Energy Secretary Privately Met with China-Connected Activist Group Pushing Ban on Gas Stoves.” Americans for Public Trust. February 10, 2023. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://americansforpublictrust.org/news/revealed-bidens-energy-secretary-privately-met-with-china-connected-activist-group-pushing-ban-on-gas-stoves/

[xvi] Gruenwald, Talor; Brady A. Seals, et. al. “Population Attributable Fraction of Gas Stoves and Childhood Asthma in the United States.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. December 21, 2022. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/75

[xvii] RMI Buildings post on X (Twitter) | 9:10 AM · Jan 4, 2023. @RMIBuildings. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://x.com/RMIBuildings/status/1610639792727019521

[xviii] Anderson, Collin; and Joseph Simonson. “Meet the Green Energy Group Behind the Study That’s Driving Calls To Ban Gas Stoves.” January 16, 2023. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/meet-the-green-energy-group-behind-the-study-thats-driving-calls-to-ban-gas-stoves/

[xix] “5 Reasons Why Gas Ranges Are Better Than Electric.” Pensacola Energy. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://pensacolaenergy.com/5-reasons-why-gas-ranges-are-better-than-electric/

[xx] Anderson, Collin; and Joseph Simonson. “Meet the Green Energy Group Behind the Study That’s Driving Calls To Ban Gas Stoves.” January 16, 2023. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/meet-the-green-energy-group-behind-the-study-thats-driving-calls-to-ban-gas-stoves/

[xxi] Anderson, Collin. “Biden Admin Says Its Natural Gas Phaseout Will Save Taxpayers Millions. It Will Do the Opposite.” Washington Free Beacon. December 19, 2022. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/biden-admin-says-its-natural-gas-phaseout-will-save-taxpayers-millions-it-will-do-the-opposite/

[xxii] Egan, Matt. “We’re not taking away your gas stove, regulator tells CNN.” CNN. January 12, 2023. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/11/business/gas-stoves-trumka

[xxiii] “China Program.” Rocky Mountain Institute. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://rmi.org/our-work/china-program/

[xxiv] “REINVENTING FIRE: CHINA.” ENERGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF THE NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND REFORM COMMISSION, LAWRENCE BERKELEY NATIONAL LABORATORY, ROCKY MOUNTAIN INSTITUTE, ENERGY FOUNDATION CHINA. September 2016. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://rmi.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/OCS_Report_ReinventingFireChina_2016.pdf

[xxv] Ritchie, Hannah; Pablo Rosado, and Max Roser. “Per capita, national, historical: how do countries compare on CO2 metrics?” Our World in Data. Accessed January 14, 2026. https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-metrics

[xxvi] Millard, Rachel. “China pushes coal-fired power projects alongside renewables.” January 15, 2026. Accessed January 15, 2026. Accessed January 15, 2026. https://www.ft.com/content/103a731c-91cc-45bc-8769-ee4cadf3ce40

[xxvii] “China’s carbon-neutrality goal increases the urgency of meeting 100 percent of the nation’s new electricity demand growth with zero-carbon sources.” Rocky Mountain Institute. January 15, 2021. Accessed March 20, 2026. https://rmi.org/press-release/chinas-carbon-neutrality-goal-increases-urgency-of-meeting-nations-demand-growth-with-zero-carbon-sources/

[xxviii] “China’s carbon-neutrality goal increases the urgency of meeting 100 percent of the nation’s new electricity demand growth with zero-carbon sources.” Rocky Mountain Institute. January 15, 2021. Accessed March 20, 2026. https://rmi.org/press-release/chinas-carbon-neutrality-goal-increases-urgency-of-meeting-nations-demand-growth-with-zero-carbon-sources/

[xxix] Bryce, Robert. “China Goes N2N.” Robert Bryce (Substack). November 20, 2025. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://robertbryce.substack.com/p/china-goes-n2n

[xxx] Bryce, Robert. “China Goes N2N.” Robert Bryce (Substack). November 20, 2025. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://robertbryce.substack.com/p/china-goes-n2n

[xxxi] Bryce, Robert. “China Goes N2N.” Robert Bryce (Substack). November 20, 2025. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://robertbryce.substack.com/p/china-goes-n2n

Source: https://capitalresearch.org/article/enemies-of-energy-rocky-mountain-institute-rmi/